


Getting Better

by Forgotten_Peggy



Category: Bandstand - Oberacker/Oberacker & Taylor
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Flashbacks, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-05
Updated: 2017-08-05
Packaged: 2018-12-11 10:47:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 827
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11712825
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Forgotten_Peggy/pseuds/Forgotten_Peggy
Summary: Over a year after the war, Donny still has flashbacks. He's not sure if he will ever wake up.





	Getting Better

"Donny?" Julia asked, knocking on his front door. He was supposed to have picked her up for dinner an hour earlier, but he hadn't shown up. Knowing that he wouldn't have cancelled their dinner without phoning her first, Julia told herself that paying him a visit couldn't do any harm.

"Donny?" Julia repeated. She knocked again. No answer.

Julia and Donny had been going out for almost a year, after they first kissed just over a year earlier, but it had felt like so much longer, especially since they spent most of their time together, either just them or with the band. Because of this, Julia knew where he spare key was hidden. 'Just in case', he had told her when he told her.

Reaching under the doormat, Julia grabbed Donny's spare key, before brushing down her skirt and letting herself into his apartment.

"Donny?" Julia asked again, stepping into Donny's apartment. She placed his key on the hall table, and, when she received no response to her question, she walked slowly forward. "Donny?" No answer. No one in the kitchen or living area. "Donny?" She asked again, continuing towards Donny's bedroom.

That was when she heard it. A whimper, barely audible above the sounds of the city. "Donny?" Julia asked a final time, knocking on his bedroom door. Pressing her ear to the door, Julia heard a sob. Donny. She pushed the door open, slowly at first, but almost slammed it open when she saw him.

Donny lay on his bed, curled up in the fetal position. His head was curled into his chest and his shoulders shook with sobs that tore through his body and left him gasping for breath.

"Donny" Julia said. When he didn't react to her voice, she placed a single hand on one of his trembling shoulders. Donny seemed to freeze for a second, before he started crying again.

Julia had seen him like this before, just a few times, as she knew he didn't like anyone seeing him like this, but she recognised it well. He was having another flashback episode.

Quickly taking off her shoes, Julia knelt down on Donny's bed, lifting up his head so it rested on her lap. Donny looked up at Julia, making eye contact for a second, before his eyes glazed over, and Julia knew he had returned to a world that no one should ever have to go to, let alone relive on such a basis.

"Donny, Donny, look at me," Julia begged him. She hated seeing him like this more than anything. He turned his head blankly towards her. "Focus on me. You're home. No one can hurt you here," Julia reminded him.

"Julia?" Donny finally calmed himself enough to speak.

"Donny," Julia repeated his name in relief. Julia stroked his head and whispered sweet nothings and words of comfort, until Donny finally got his breath under control again. "It's okay. You're here. You're home,"

"I'm going to get you some water," Julia said, once Donny had stilled. When she returned, glass of cold water in hand, Donny was sitting up on the edge of his bed. Julia sat down next to him, placing a reassuring hand on his knee. "You scared me a little," she commented, laughing halfheartedly.

"I'm sorry," Donny said. "I didn't mean to scare you,"

"Don't be sorry, I understand,"

Comfortable silence filled the room for a few seconds. "I'm sorry I ruined our date night,"

"Don't be sorry. Are you okay? That's a dumb question, tell me how you feel," Julia said. Donny didn't reply for a few seconds.

"I just... It's hard for me to think I'll ever be awake again. It feels like I'll be trapped in this nightmare forever," Donny confessed. "Sometimes I can't even tell what's real and what's not,"

"Remember what you told us, just before the New York competition? Before we went on stage and performed Welcome Home for the whole country?" Julia asked. "You said, what happened over there, is real, and it was, but that's over now. You said, what this band means to all of us, is real. And it is. Whatever happens, me and the guys are always on your side. And you said that what you felt for me was real. And what I feel for you, Donny, is absolutely real. You and I... We're real."

When Julia looked over at Donny again, a single tear had escaped his eye and was running down his cheek. He stared straight ahead as Julia wiped it away for him.

"Have I mentioned today, how lucky I am to be in love with you?" Donny asked. Julia chuckled a little, a blush creeping across her cheeks.

"You're such a sap," she said. This time, Donny laughed a little too. It wasn't much, but if he had gotten out of an episode in under ten minutes, Julia knew he was getting better, and that was all she could hope for.

**Author's Note:**

> Feel free to send me Bandstand related prompts in the comments or on my tumblr because I love writing these characters, I just never have any ideas.
> 
> My tumblr is forgotten-peggy


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